The 10 Cases, Covent Garden - London Restaurants

The 10 Cases is a little, friendly breath of fresh air in Covent Garden.  There's a daily changing 3 starters, 3 mains and 3 desserts scribbled on the blackboard, with 1 or 2 signature dishes that are stayers. Mains come with your choice of side dish, included in the reasonable prices.

It has a wine bar feel - except that the tables are mostly reserved for diners, and the bar alone the refuge for the boozers. There will be 10 whites and 10 reds on the menu - they stock 10 cases of each wine, and when anything runs out, they'll swap it for 10 cases of something else. Simples. And they're very friendly about giving you tastes - bonus. Drink by the glass, carafe or bottle of a well chosen wine list with prices ranging generally from about £4-£10 per glass.

Wine list and free pea shoot nibbly

The fare itself is fairly basic, bistro stuff - all very fresh, if not earth shattering enough to distract from the lovely wines, which are probably the real reason you're there.

Lovely house salad with runny poached egg and mushrooms

The rolled lamb shoulder was just ok, and while the whole, grilled Dover sole with caper berries was fresh and hearty, it was probably a tad overcooked.

Rolled shoulder of lamb

Grilled sole

There's no service charge, only a small mark up on wines but there's a £1.50 cover charge for freshly baked, warm bread, water etc. Budget on spending about £6 per starter, £16 per main and £5 per dessert.

The things that would get me back to The 10 Cases are the fabulously, refreshingly simple concept, the stellar service - so keen, so interested, so helpful (there are 2 guys behind the operation, and you get the sense they're keenly involved) - the lovely wines and the easy peasy, relaxed atmosphere. The food was a nice accompaniment but not a draw card in its own right, at least at these early stages.

The 10 Cases, 16 Endell Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9BD (Tel: 020 7836 6801)

PS. Apparently there's also a private dining room downstairs.